As environmental issues become increasingly more important, the economic burden on corporations imposed by regulatory agencies becomes a paramount consideration. One such consideration is the ozone depletion which has been shown to be detrimentally affected by chemicals allowed to vent into the atmosphere. Such chemicals of most concern are man-made compounds known as chloroflourocarbons (CFC's) and other halogen combining compounds. Chloroflourocarbons are useful for refrigeration and air conditioning systems and are widely used as aerosol propellants. Another useful halogen containing compound is Halon. Halon is widely used in fire extinguishing systems. For example, Halon 1301 is used in fire extinguishing systems for commercial and military aircraft and is an essential ingredient in aircraft flight safety.
Frequent handling of Halon 1301 is mandatory since the FAA requires hydrostatic testing of each bottle of Halon 1301 used. In order to perform these tests the bottles must be emptied which creates the risk that the Halon can be lost to the atmosphere. Prior to the environmental concerns, Halon was simply discharged into the air to empty a bottle. Such conduct is no longer acceptable and emission of Halon to the atmosphere carries extreme regulatory penalties.
Since Halon is detrimental to the earth's ozone layer, government regulations have been passed to limit and eventually eliminate the production of Halon. In fact, Halon will no longer be produced after 1993. Severe penalties will be imposed for any release of Halon into the atmosphere. Furthermore, in January 1994 the tax on one pound of Halon will escalate from $0.25 per pound to $26.50 per pound.
Despite the need for a system to efficiently recycle halocarbon compositions, to date there have been no systems that can recycle halocarbon compositions at a high percent while maintaining a low operating cost. In addition, there is not a system for purifying the halocarbon composition integrally operating with a system for recharging a collection vessel immediately after purification.